Certain light products cause problems on channels

[ssorrell]

First...I have 3 controllers, 40 channels. All firmware is updated and all controllers have been reset and have unique IDs.

I have a "flash rope", which is a string of 12 small, one LED strobe lights that flash randomly, looking like the cameras of the paparazzi. It adds a neat effect to my show. But, Now, whenever the channel with the flash rope on it is ON, it causes all 16 channels on another controller to go on and off randomly. quite weird. I moved it to another channel on another controller and get the same result. I was pulling my hair out...reset everything, rebooted the computer, etc. I ended up disabling that channel.

However, I found that if I give the channel that the rope is on only 30% power when ON, the problem ceases. I guess it is also important to note that when I test whatever channel the rope is on with the Hardware utility, there is a lot of noise coming from my computer speakers.

Also, I have 2 flourescent party lights on another channel that is doing the same thing. If they draw full power, there is noise on the speakers and random things happen on other channels. But, if I give that channel less than 50% power, the problem goes away.

So...I'm no electrician, but from reading some of the posts in here, I assume the NOISE is my problem?

First...am I correct? Can noise cause these kinds of problems?

Second...how do I fix this?

[LORisAwesome]

I suspect that the problem may be the fluorescent party lights.

I have seen posts from others on these forums that fluorescent and CFL lights cause noise which disrupts the controllers. In some cases, the fluorescent/CFL lights don't even have to be on the same circuit as the controllers for this to happen.

I don't have any personal experience with these kinds of problems, I am just passing on what I have read elsewhere.

I would try disconnecting the party lights and see if it helps.

Jerry

[ssorrell]

Yeah...if I disconnect them or disable that channel, the problem stops.

But, it's not just the fluorescent lights...it's also the LED strobe channel too.

I'm using my quick fix of supplying those channels with less power for the moment, which at least lets me continue to use those lights for effect. But I would like to know how to remedy it for future use.

[LORisAwesome]

Have you tried it with the LED string, but not the fluorescent lights? I would also make sure any fluorsent/CFL lights in the house are also turned off to eliminate that as a potential problem.

If you still have problems with this configuration, I would guess that the LED string is causing noise that disrupts the controllers.

This is the best that I can offer, someone else may have a better solution.

Good luck, I hope you can get this working.

Jerry

[-klb-]

I can't find the original thread, but I found where I quoted the thread fairly quickly:


LightORamaJohn wrote:

XPPF X10 noise filters seem to work (search for "XPPF" on ebay -- $4 to $5)

Plug the CFL into the filter and then into the controller. I have not done any real testing beyond using it with a few different CFLs. I would appreciate feedback if some one tries it.

Not sure if these are still readily available, but I would suggest that one of these on each of the three channels would be a place to start..

[ssorrell]

Thanks klb...that's definitely worth a try. I just purchased a 3 pack...